Concerning the Spirit as the realization of God (John 14:17), we need to see the following eight points:
(1) The Spirit is the reality of the Son (vv. 16-20; 15:26). All that the Father has is in the Son, and all that the Son has is realized as the Spirit. Apart from the Spirit, we cannot touch the Son. Hence, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Son. When the Spirit comes, the Son also comes. When the Spirit is in us, the Son is also in us. All that the Father has is the Son’s, and the Spirit receives everything from the Son. Today, the Spirit is in us for our experience and enjoyment.
(2) The Spirit receives all that the Son is and has obtained and discloses it to us (16:13-15).
(3) The Father is in the Son, and the Son became the Spirit for us to drink so that He may become the living water flowing out of us (7:37-39; 4:10, 14).
(4) The Spirit enters into us to be with us so that we may enjoy the Son (14:17-18). The One who is with us is the Spirit, yet the One whom we enjoy is the Son, because the Spirit is the Son.
(5) The Spirit being in us is the Son being in us (vv. 17, 20; 17:23, 26).
(6) In the Spirit we are joined to the Triune God as one (vv. 21-23). In chapter 17 the Lord prayed to the Father, saying, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us...that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one” (vv. 21-23). This means that all those who believe into Him and have Him as life are joined as one in the Triune God and are joined to the Triune God as one. Hence, this oneness is not only horizontal but also vertical. It is horizontal because we, the many believers, are one; it is vertical because we, the many believers, are one with the Triune God. In the Spirit we are one with all the believers as well as with the Triune God.
(7) We worship God, who is Spirit, by this Spirit and with reality, that is, with the Christ whom we have experienced (4:23-24). Hence, we worship the Spirit by the Spirit. This is a mystery that cannot be explained.
(8) We are regenerated by the Spirit in our spirit, and we worship the Spirit in our spirit (3:6; 4:24).
These are the main points concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in the Gospel of John. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the three-in-one God; He is one God, yet He is Father, Son, and Spirit. In His economy the Father is in the Son, the Son became the Spirit, and the Spirit enters into us. When the Triune God comes into us, He regenerates us. Then, as the Spirit, He is breath for us to breathe, living water for us to drink, and food for us to eat. In 20:22, after His resurrection, the Lord breathed into His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He breathes out the Spirit so that we can breathe Him in. In 4:14 He said that He would give us living water that would become in us a fountain springing up into eternal life. In 7:38-39 He spoke of living water flowing out of the innermost being of those who would come to Him and drink. In 6:35 He said that He is the bread of life and that those who come to Him would by no means hunger. Furthermore, in verse 57 He said that those who eat Him would live because of Him.
We must remember these four main points concerning what the Triune God is to us: first, He regenerates us; second, He is breath for us to breathe; third, He is living water for us to drink; and fourth, He is food for us to eat. As soon as a baby is born, it will cry; if the baby does not cry, someone will spank it so that it will cry. This spanking causes it to begin to breathe. When Christians call on the Lord’s name, they are breathing. Many can testify that they feel so happy when they call on the Lord’s name. This indicates that they are breathing spiritually. However, it is not enough to just breathe; we also need to drink. When we first call on the Lord’s name, we are breathing; when we call again, “O Lord! Amen!” a few more times, our breathing becomes our drinking. After drinking, we need to eat Him as bread in His Word. Hence, we have to pray-read the Lord’s Word. If we breathe, drink, and eat the Lord every day, we will grow in the divine life.
The matter of fruit-bearing is also mentioned in John 15. What is fruit-bearing? As the life in us becomes richer and increases, gradually it will flow out and be expressed. This expression is fruit-bearing. The Lord said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (v. 5). The function of a branch is to bear fruit. This is especially true of the branches from a grape vine, which are only good for bearing fruit. The branches of a grape vine cannot be used to make furniture; if they do not bear fruit, they are totally useless. Bearing fruit is not outward behavior or an outward act but the overflow of the inner life.
Life is the Triune God as the Spirit. He has entered into our spirit to be our life. This life needs to grow and spread within us. Our problem is that we do not let Him spread, and He is restricted within us. On the surface, we go to the meetings, pray, and even pray-read the Word, but inwardly we do not let the Lord Spirit spread, and we do not surrender to Him. When He has an argument with us inwardly, we always win and He always loses. It is not a blessing but rather a loss when we win an argument with the Lord. Therefore, every time we argue with the Lord, we should learn to say to the Lord, “Lord, have mercy on me. Do not let me win. Please defeat me.” If we desire to bear the fruit of life, we must let Him grow and spread in us. This is not a matter of being zealous outwardly. Neither is it a matter of improving ourselves outwardly. Rather, we need to let the Lord be victorious in us; we need to be overcome and subdued by Him. We need to let the Lord win in all arguments, whether great or small. If we are always defeated by Him, we will be blessed.
It does not matter how zealous we are for Him outwardly. The only thing that matters is how much we have been defeated and subdued by Him inwardly. Our work is not to stir people up to become zealous or to encourage people to work for Him. Rather, our work is to help people so that inwardly they will let Christ win, be subdued by Christ, and let the Spirit grow. Then the Lord will gain the full ground in us and be able to make home in us, and we will take Him as our person. Thus, for us to live will be Christ. As such, we will be full of His abundant life and will flow out this life; such a flowing out is fruit-bearing.